We Are Groot
by HologramHoney
Summary: "We are Groot" holds true in more way than one. The newly promoted Denarian Dey makes a shocking transmission to five ex-convicts. Rocket only found one "Grootling", and just how many more there are is a mystery. The Guardians must travel the Galaxy in search of the rest of the Grootlings, or else Rocket would blast their asses off. (Rated M for violence and a lot of swearing.)
1. Water for Groots

Rhomann life was quite busy now that Nova Prime had given him a promotion from Millenian to Denarian, but at least the threat if the crazed fanatic Ronan wasn't looming over him or his family. He remembered to take the time after a long days work to talk with his wife, to play jets with his young daughter, to tell them how thankful he was to have them in his life and how much he loved them. And he did, very much so, but with so many recent deaths throughout the ranks, the Nova Corps was struggling with their current workload. He would come home tired and needed sometime to recharge, to forget about the destruction that plagued Xandar.

Botany was calming to Rhomann Dey and always had been. Plants gave him some predictability and added some much needed solitude. Some of the plants needed special care, a certain mineral added to the water, or a shadier spot then on his window, but he could water them easily enough and sort out his thoughts, and see the progress they made day by day. He loved watching them flourish and grow more vibrant. He had acquired many plants from throughout the vast Galaxy, but only one of them, sitting in the middle of his seemed not to grow; he doubted it ever would.

Groot's sacrifice rung deep in his heart. He never knew got to know the sentient humanoid plant, he'd only seen him the day he'd arrested Quill. He was big, and he was very much on the simple side, in fact he could distinctly hear Rocket, a cybernetic _something_, telling stories about what an idiot Groot was, with a sad smile on his furry face. No, Rhomann never knew Groot personally, but he gave his life protecting his captors. Groot was part of the reason his family was still alive. So, he had taken one of the branches from the crash site, and cared for it out of respect.

The soft swooshing of metal doors opening broke Rhomann out of his thoughts and brought his attention to his beautiful bright pink daughter. A big grin plastered itself on his face as he scooped up the giggling child. She liked to check in on his plants' progress every now and again, mostly because it was _their_ time together. The smiling little girl listened quietly with rapt attention as her father named the plants and what planet they were from, what properties they held, what they might look like when they grow up. The smiling duo went from plant to plant down the line before the doors opened once more to reveal his stunning wife. He set down his baby girl.

"Daddy's got to talk to Mommy for a second, okay Princess?" The adorable girl smiled and nodded to her daddy, then gazed back up to the colourful plants as her father walked out of the room with her mother. They were so pretty.

Her father walked back in only a couple minutes later to see his awestruck daughter gaze her violet eyes up at the flora. Scrutinizing the window where the plants grew he tried to see what was holding his daughter's attention. Maybe a particularly colorful flower? He knelt down to her level. "Hey Princess, what'cha lookin' at?" She glanced at him for a moment before looking up again and giggling into her hands.

"He's funny"

He? What did she mean? He looked again to where her eyes led and almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. The twig that had remained ashen and dead in its glass bowl was _waving a tiny branch hand_ and _blinking._ Well, shit.

(line)

_-uess my race is ru-n She's the best girl that I ever had, I fought the law and the- law won, I fought the law and the-_

A well built stubbly human in a red leather Ravager duster bopped his head and expressively mouthed the words to the music blasting through his no longer grimy ship. His fluffy reddish hair bounced to the beat as he scrolled through countless advertisements for odd jobs. The four and a half odd companions had almost no money between them and needed some means of getting by as their last job ended up with building being blown up before their funds could be transferred, and then later a planet nearly being destroyed. The Nova Corps had given them a second chance, and Peter Quill would rather not get arrested anytime soon (but maybe later, hey, he's the legendary _outlaw _Star-Lord, not saint.)

Most of his hodge-podge crew was asleep now, the only one awake was a hulking grey man with intricate tribal scars across his bare chest, Drax, though "awake" is a loose term, more like sleeping with his eyes open and staring into the vastness of space. Then a buzzing sound "woke" the warrior with a start.

_ I needed money 'cus I had none, I fought the la- _

Drax clamped his hand on Peter's shoulder, making the outlaw jump in his pilot's seat. "Star-Lord, your Nova friend is sending us a transmission" He boomed. Peter quickly turned off the music and tapped the translucent screen with the Denarian's face displayed. The larger screens above the friends lit up.

"Hey, Dey, man, how's it going?" Peter greeted the Corpsman with a grin

_ "Hey Quill, Drax, I hate to bother you so late, but" _Dey's face turned uneasy _"I think there may be an issue that involves you"_ Peter's face morphed into a frown.

"Woah woah woah, we haven't done anything illegal, man. I've been looking in the wanted ads for crying out loud! If something's up its not our fault" They hadn't even been near Xandar territory since Nova Prime had gifted him a new-ish Milano. However, before Peter could continue to rant Dey cut in.

_ "Its not that kind of issue, Star Prince" _he teased. He held up a glass pot filled with potting soil and a plain twig.

"I'm not following."

"Perhaps he has gone mad." Drax suggested plainly. Watching the Denarian Officer coo at the motionless stick, Peter had to agree. _Wait, was that, did that stick just yawn?_

_ "Say hello to one of the Grootlings" _Groot! Wait, didn't Rocket have Groot? Well, damn. _"I think you guys might want to come back to Xandar for a bit so I can explain."_

Drax and Peter stared unblinkingly at the screen. "Uh, yeah, we'll be there in about five hours"

_ "Great. Go ahead and park by Nova Head Quarters*, I'll meet you guys by your ship."_ And with that the curly haired man disconnected.

The duo looked at their own "Grootling" who was slumbering peacefully on the dash board of the ship. Just how many were there?

Drax turned to look at Peter, with a concerned look on his face "Which of us should inform the small angry one?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it when he wakes up, but in the mean time _you_ get to pilot, because I'm headed to bed." Peter grinned tiredly and shuffled backwards towards the ladder.

"Quill," Peter paused and sighed.

"What" Drax looked down at him with an intense gaze. Drax's brow was furrowed and he wore a slight frown. With a look like that, whatever it was he needed to ask must be important.

"Why did that man call you Star Prince?"


	2. A Tale of Two Groots

**Well I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. I'll do my best to keep this brief. I'm starting school in a week and I've got 12 hours of class and I'll probably have a ton of homework/ projects, I'm volunteering my weekends to a Halloween fair, and joy of all joys my laptop is on the fritz. As always, constructive criticism is always welcome while flames are not, feel free to message me or leave a review. – Kit**

It took Rocket all of five seconds within waking up to feel that something was off. Wiping the drool with the back of his paw, he groggily rose from his top bunk casually twitching his ears and taking a whiff of the air. It was quiet. Quill wasn't blasting his annoyingly catchy Terran music thank god. Maybe he'd finally gotten some freakin' sense in that weird human head of his...Nah, must be something else.

His curiosity got the best of him and he climbed down from the bunk bed and hit the metal floor with a soft 'plap'. He stretched some and groaned at how chilly it was, but made his way out the door and through the tunnel like hallway. The closer and closer he got to the cockpit the more muffled voices he heard.

"-lly, Peter, thats your idea? He is not one of your one night stands." Rocket rolled his eyes, she had it bad for Quill. " You can't just leave him hear with a note"

"Perhaps we should simply announce the issue at hand" The big lug's voice echoed obnoxiously in his ears. Obviously the problem had to do with him. "We can't do that!" There was Quill again.

'I'd better step in before these goons get even louder' He mumbled in his head. Quickly climbing the ladder to the cockpit like the animal he refused he was he cursed and growled. Its too damn early in the morning for all this noise.

"All right, all right, what the hell is going on in here!?"

The Guardians froze in place, but it was Quill who recovered first, although not well.

"Uuuh, nothing. There's nothing going on here. Wha- why would you think that?" he replied with the stupidest looking face. More stupid looking than usual. Rocket just raised an eyebrow at him, then looked to the other tall people.

"It's about G-" Gamora slapped her green hand over Drax's mouth before he could finish his sentance.

"We have something that you should see" Gamora said while nodding her head in the direction of the ship's screens, still clamping her palm over Drax's face. Quill nervously looked at her before whatever she was hinting at clicked in his head.

"Oh, right" He turned and walked to the controls for the comm. unit. "I usually end up recording all my calls, for uh- well you know what, its not important, but check out this message" The holographic screen sputtered out light until a picture of some Nova corpsman was flickering in the air.

Gamora had finally released the giant muscle- head. "You might want to seat yourself, friend."

Quill hit 'Play'.

A stunned raccoon stared blankly at the screen as the others trained their eyes on him. A snarled appeared on his face and he whipped his head around to the front of the ship to where a tin pot held a tiny Groot. He stomped angrily towards the sentient plant baby.

"Did you know about this?"

The baby Grootling waved his tiny hands in front of him. He couldn't talk yet, but they all knew that he was trying to indicate that he didn't know about it, and even if he could talk all he would be able to say was "I am Groot."

Rocket tugged at his ears "I can't freaking believe this." He grated out. They needed a plan of action to sort this out, but his head was too muddled to come up with one. First Groot "dies", then he lives again, and now there's another Groot? He needed some booze. He really really needed some booze. He groaned into his hands then massaged his aching head.

The rest of the crew looked sympathetically at him, not really knowing what to say. Drax put a heavy palm on Rocket's head and they all migrated into their respective seats. They had a long journey ahead of them, and a lot to think about. It was best to get to Xandar as soon and smoothly as possible.

Music suddenly blared around them and Peter danced in his seat.

"Oh come on, Quill!" Rocket and Peter commenced their usual bickering with a clueless comment thrown in from Drax every now and then.

Gamora smirked to herself. '_And to think I was willing to fight and die for these fools._"

It took twelve Terran hours to get to Xandar, and there were two hours left. The bickering got old fast and Gamora was now nursing a giant headache and murderous thoughts. She may have hated killing for her kidnapper, but she would gladly kill again to shut her new friends up. Drax was taking her shift and nodded to her, keeping his distance. She practically stalked out of the cockpit and into her room below deck.

Drax himself grew tired of their constant arguing, but he was not about to draw his finger across his throat to them. He still did not grasp most of Quill's strange idioms, or Rocket's insults, but he was content with knowing that they were a team, and should they find themselves in trouble that they would "have his back."

Rocket managed to "convince" Peter at gun point to turn of the music for the rest of the trip about an hour ago when they went to bed, and The Destroyer was reveling in the silence, though it would not last long. They were nearly to Xandar, he could view the planet in the distance. He decided to call into Nova to see where he should park the newly built Milano. One call and half an hour later he was landing on next to Nova Headquarters.

"Friends, we have landed. You must awaken now" Drax's voice boomed over the intercom to each of the sleeping pods. One by one they made their way out of the retro spacecraft and onto the landing pad surface. The sun was only just beginning to make an appearance across the surface of the ground and the sky was still tinged pink.

Among the soft glare of the sun they noticed some figures walking towards them. It was time to meet with Denarian Dey and get this whole mess sorted out.


	3. Two Little Groots Standing in a Row

"Quill, its good to see you." The curly haired man greeted the former ravager from across the landing pad. "I hope you haven't gotten into to much trouble yet"

Peter's lip quivered, trying to hide a smirk. They had gotten into a bit of trouble since literally saving the galaxy, but luckily it stayed under the Nova Corps' noses. Most of them weren't even Peter's fault. "No, who, us? We haven't gotten in any trouble at all." Peter finally replied in his best 'innocent' tone.

The rest of his crew emerged behind him, groggily making their way towards Denarian Dey and Nova headquarters.

"and I'm supposed to believe that?" Dey chuckled out.

The sun's rays were shining almost directly into all of their eyes. "Can we just get a move on? It's too early for this crap" Rocket held onto the potted Groot "Prime", and squinted into the general direction of Dey before moving behind Drax to block the harsh light. The posse made their way inside to the massive building and dodged the scurrying network of people going about their early morning routines, that is until they caught sight of the band of unlikely heroes.

A small cheer echoed through the masses and Peter strutted by with a "Dung-Eating-Smile", at least that's what Gamora thought the phrase was. Terrans' had such strange and backwards idioms, but that just added to their charm she supposed. Peter certainly was charming. She nearly ran into a Nova grunt as she tripped at the thought.

The happy group soaked up the positive attention like sponges, it wasn't often that they received praise, after all they became friends after they broke out of a top security space prison. As they moved up and through the building Rocket felt his heart race,_ they didn't think of him as a monster_, he was a hero, and he liked that. He looked at the tiny waving Grootling in this tiny pot and he felt a pang of guilt, no he couldn't call himself a hero. Groot was the hero, and he was so incredibly thankful that his selectively phrased friend survived.

Rocket's ears twitched in recognition at the sound of the final door swooshing open in front of the group. Nova Prime stood in front of them with a small, stern smile on her face.

"Welcome back, I hope none of you have gotten into any trouble..." she spoke. Dey took his place by her side, smiling wryly as he'd asked the same question not but twenty minutes ago.

"What? Who, _us_? Why is everyone asking that? Now really, you should have more faith." Rocket's incredulous voice rang out and he moved Grootling to hide his slightly singed fur, an unfortunate result of a failed, er, field test of his latest gizmo. Quill snorted to the left of him and Rocket turned to bare his fangs at him.

"But, what aboOOF" Drax confused tone was quickly cut of by three simultaneous hits from his crewmates. Nova Prime raised one prim eyebrow at the suspicious behavior, but let it go. She knew they couldn't possibly stay out of trouble, it was against their nature. Drax rubbed his muscled stomach. What did he do wrong? Nova Prime motioned for them to follow her lead.

"Well come this way there are some things we need to brief you on"

"I'm more of a boxers man myself" Peters tone was casually sarcastic, but quickly added a "ma'am" after seeing Prime's deadpan expression. They never the less continued to the large holoscreens where Prime asked a grunt to pull up whatever information she wanted to show them.

The bright displayed showed the genetic information on Groot, along with a map of the galaxy, dotted with different colored lights. Two of which were located very close together, so much so that they almost looked like one dot.

"After the information we discovered with Mr. Quills genetic scan, we decided to take another look at Groot's once this second one was found." The Grootling look up at the screen nearly oblivious to everyone and just chased the small lights overhead, not that he could move much being restrained to a simple clay pot.

Gamora stepped forward and inquired "What did you find?" Nova Prime motioned to the grunt, who nodded in return and zoomed in on the close dots. "All over the galaxy very similar genes have been detected by our systems. We can't tell how close they are exactly, there are limitations even to our forces resources, but it seems that each piece of Groots...remains have possibly grown into these small Groots" the grunt motioned to the potted Grootling who was still chasing the lights.

"How many are there, Gero?" Dey questioned his subordinate. "It's hard to say, sir, as I said earlier, its hard to determine which ones are actual matches, but there are a little over twelve within this quadrant, and one hundred possibly matches within all of the galaxy, with the closest being the one you found, sir."

Rocket shakily sucked in air, and nearly fainted at the possibility of finding even more of his friend, and one was probably within the building. His paws were shaking and he gazed at the screen. Drax gently laid his massive hand on Rocket's head, who tensed then relaxed into his hand. Gamora and Peter stepped closer to him and his attention was pulled toward the small Grootling, gave a couple of pats to Rocket's paw and smiled cluelessly at his old friend. The bionic raccoon gulped back tears, in all his life he'd never had so many people who cared about his well being.

"Can we see the little guy?" Quill's voice cut through the tension as Rocket reigned in his fluctuating emotions. Dey nodded to one of the guards manning the door, who nodded back and left to retrieve the second Grootling.

"This is most exciting, to be reunited with a fellow warrior." Drax could feel himself becoming more and more happy at the though, a fellow warrior, a part person who sacrificed himself for them all, and most importantly, Groot was a friend.

Gero's voice cut in "It must be exciting, but I must warn you, as we have no previously existing data, there's no way to tell what will happen, for all we know they could explode" Rocket frowned at the blue woman, he sure as hell didn't want that, but he had to try didn't he? He owed the lug too much to just let it go.

All eyes turned to the opening steel doors. In walked Nova Prime, proud as ever with a small Grootling, nearly identical to the one in Rocket's paws. That is, until Stardork yanked Groot from them.

"We-e-ell, let's get this show on the road!" He sat the Grootling down on the ground and strutted forward to get the other Grootling from Nova Prime. He carefully, but quickly took Grootling 2 from Prime's hands and walked towards the original.

"Pe- Quill, we still do not know what will happen! We could all get blown up, do not be as much of an idiot as you usually are!" The green warrior woman sharply shouted. Quill hardly paid attention and sat the Grootling down next to the original and whipped out his camera. Rocket held back a snarl. Only _he _was allowed to blow shit up, damnit!

And there they were. Two little Groots, standing in a row. The room was silent as the Grootlings watched each other, then time seemed to slow down as the orignal Groot in his little white pot reached out for the other. The Groots were mesmerized by each other, their eyes wide and focused. Rocket held his breath as the second Grootling reached too. The bark on their arms grew and swirled outward, slowly and calmly, and then after a minute of silent reaching, they touched. The entire room let out the breaths they didn't realize they were holding.

Then faster then anyone could react they pulled themselves toward each other, their pots scraping on the ground and met with a clank. They threw their leafy arms around each other in an eager hug. As they clinged to each other small light began to waft from their happy figures. The made strange tiny cracking noises, seemingly communicating, and hand in hand they turned to the Guardians and smiled. The second Grootling looked nervously at them, then back at the original Grootling, who smiled and nodded. Together they turned once more to the Guardians with beaming woody smiles. Then in unison:

"W-we are GrooOot"

***~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*Christmas Special!*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~***

Peter was feeling a bit too nostalgic these days. After finally opening that present from his mom, his thoughts turned to Terra, or Earth as he used to call it. It wasn't a terrible planet really, but most of his memories of it had faded, aside from his mom's death.

His thoughts suddenly turned to the would be date. Since every planet in the galaxy had a difference rotation cycle around their respective suns, and spins at its own rate, units of time were getting too confusing for the Galaxy as a whole. Thus the Intergalactic Time Clock (ITC) was developed. It averaged out all the times of the habitable planets within the Milky Way Galaxy and incremented a pseudo compromise, with false "day" and "night", "months", and "years." Most planets kept their own units of time, but referred to the ITC for meeting with ships, other planets, or for foreigners within their own planet. Peter himself kept track of the Earth calendar, though he never told Yondu or his old crew, lest he get hassled even more than he was.

In Earth time it was roughly December 22nd. Close to Christmas. He couldn't really remember the reason for the holiday, but he remembered some of the traditions, and the carols he used to sing with his mom and grandparents, like putting a dead tree in the middle of the house and covering it with shiny baubles like the ones Yondu kept on his dashboard, or making fresh cookies and leaving a glass of milk out for some dude with a funny hat, named Santa. He looked out the window of his fancy new Milano and heaved a sigh, unknowingly gaining the attention of his crew mates.

Maybe he could pick up some trinkets for them on their next excursion. He wouldn't go as far as decorating the whole ship, but maybe his cabin or something in the galley. Memories were flying through his head faster than he could keep up with. He left to go to his cabin with a contemplative expression, but humming under his breath, _"Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Jingle bell rock"_

As soon as he was out of the cockpit Rocket turned to the others from his pile of scrap metal and tools. "What the hell. Was _that_?" he gestured to the area that Quill was now NOT occupying. Gamora looked concerned for her captain's wellbeing, but Drax..

"That was our friend Quill, leaving" He looked more concerned for Rocket, as though he'd forgotten who Quill was. "Not _that, _I'm talking about the way the pink thing was acting, _Mr. Destroyer._"

"Ah yes that, I too noticed his odd singing and frown."

Gamora look to Peter's console, gears turning. Its not like he ever password protected it. She stepped up to it to see what he had up last, maybe there was a clue to his strange behavior there. Moving the holographic screens she pulled up the ITC conversion calendar, with "December" 22nd highlighted, indicating that it was today, and a rotating red circle around the 25th. This must be it. "I think I may have found something"

Rocket dusted himself off, grabbed Groot from the table and walked towards the console to see what Gamora had to say, while Drax lumbered after them. "I looked up the significance of Terra's 'Deeceember' twenty-five. It is some sort of Terran holiday called Chriiistmahs" Gamora attempted to sound out the foreign words.

"Chreestmas?" Rocket looked over her shoulder at the holoscreen. "That sounds like a stupid-ass holiday...but if this is what's got Quill in a funk than we need to get him out of it. I refuse to die because he's messed up in the head or whatever. This is the guy that pilots us!" The furry guy crossed his arms and scowled, eyes focused on the information scrolling by, so he didn't see Gamora's sly grin. He could hide it all he wanted, the entire crew knew he was a big softie.

"It looks as though we are to exchange gifts, and hang our "stockings" on a fireplace. Terra truly has odd customs, and who is this Santa? Does he wish to do battle? Why else would he sneak into homes and leave gifts, do people not realize that they must be traps?" Drax's deep voice whispered to his friends.

"Well we have to do something, strange customs aside. It's displeasing to see Quill moping about. When are we scheduled to land on G'loot Praktaw? They have thriving markets, perhaps we could do our own gift exchange?"

The Guardians shared a glance at each other, and nodded.

Peter marched through the bustling streets of G'loot Praktaw, nimbly avoiding bumping into anyone, or thing. He was a man on a mission, and the rest of his crew _advised_ him ("What the hell Rocket!? Put down the gun!") to stay out for a while. That suited his needs just fine, but did Rocket really need to fire a warning blast at him? He moved his hand to a bit of singed hair and smoothed it back. He swiveled his head to make sure none of the crew was following him before ducking into one of the many colorful tents set up.

This particular tent looked like it sold fine jewelry, not really up his alley, but Gamora might like something, she was a girl and girls liked sparkly things. Right? Browsing the wares Peter decided that no, not all girls liked sparkly things, especially Gamora. Maybe he'd have more luck with the next tent. He needed to get these guys gifts before tomorrow, and they had to be something that they'd appreciate. He peeked out of the tent and saw just how many vendors there were, there had to be thousands! He could barely see the citadel the streets were so crowded with vendors and shoppers. 'Something tells me I'm in for a long day'

Meanwhile, the rest of the Guardians split up, Gamora and Drax both went out into the crowds to see what they could find while Rocket Raccoon manned the Milano with baby Groot. He was going to make their gifts, as he didn't want to spend any of his hard earned units, plus he had a ton of scrap metal and other junk lying around the ship, might as well use it up somehow. He'd already made the gifts for Gamora, Drax, and Groot, but for that idiot Quill he was scratching behind the ears to think of what to make for him. He thought on Quills behavior from a couple of days ago. Tomorrow was Quill's dumb holiday and he needed to make this thing before Quill came back to the ship. Suddenly the perfect idea occurred to him and he dashed for the computer.

As Rocket was tinkering with Quill's gift Drax was looking for suitable foods. They needed to restock anyways, and he was a surprisingly good cook, so they always left the food to him. He could sniff out good products and was even better at sniffing out good deals. A loud squawking caught his attention as he breezed past a bird vendor of some sort. He turned and appraised the birds calculating the cost of them and hashed out a deal with the vendor, a little bit of haggling and he managed to get three of the large birds for a reduced price. Luckily the vendor had some pre-killed poultry that was already wrapped and ready to go, the live birds were really just to get customers' attention. Drax slung the bag of 150lb bag over his shoulder like it was filled with air. He had more shopping to do.

Gamora herself was busy haggling over some trinkets that she thought Groot would like, and she's seen something similar in the information about the Terran holiday Christmas. She had the least funds of all, as her units were all controlled by her so called "father" the Mad Titan Thanos and she hardly had any money at all. She knew she couldn't get her new comrades, friends, expensive gifts, but she knew that she could at least get them something they'd like. She shook the bag a bit, hearing the rattle of Groot's gift. Yeah, at least they would like them.

Hours later each Guardian (minus little Groot and Rocket) made their was back to the ship, hiding their purchases from one another. Everyone had finished their preparations, and tomorrow, Peter Quill was in for a big surprise.

The energetic man, known to some as Starlord, or Peter Quill, and to some still "stupid bastard", stretched and yawned in his bed. It was Christmas day today, and after dragging himself back from a long day of shopping (and maybe a little bit of stealing) he'd wrapped the gifts for his friends and shoved them under his bed. That day must have taken more energy than he thought because looking at his clock, he'd overslept by two hours.

He quickly stumbled around to get dressed and do his usual morning routine, so he could go give them to his crew mates. He grabbed the bag of gifts and a ridiculous looking conical red hat with white trim and a pom on the top and slammed it on his head. He then strutted through the hallways and up to the galley where the crew met for breakfast. He was going to surprise them good. The automatic doorway shifted open and he was ready to greet them with a beaming, squinty-eyed smile.

"Ho Ho Ho, Me-" Peter suddenly felt his words die on his lips.

"Merry Chreestmas!" The crew chorused at him. He could barley believe his eyes. The metal interior of the galley was speckled with tiny sparkling lights a la Groot, and the little guy himself was in the center of the room, on top of a pile of presents and decked out in shiny little ornaments. The table and chairs were pushed to the back and had a small delicious smelling feast resting on an ugly green and red patterned blanket. Peter hesitantly took a step forward, eyes wide and a little misty (because one of the Groot-lights was too close, of course)

He beamed again and the crew motioned for him to join them in the festivities. Rocket shuffled forward and stuck out a badly wrapped rectangle in his face. "They thought I should give you my gift first" If raccoons could blush, Rocket would be as pink as could be. Peter giddily tore into the paper, like he remembered doing as a kid, and felt his breath hitch at the site of a _new_ mix tape in his hands. He swung to where he kept a small tape deck in the galley, and popped it in and pressed "play"

_"Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock. Jingle Bells swing and Jingle Bells ring" _

The vaguely familiar voice of Bobby Helms filled the air and Peter scooped up Rocket in a hug. Even as he was bit and scratched by the grumpy sapient animal all Peter could think was 'Best Christmas Ever'

***~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~* End!*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~***


End file.
